Lower Credit Scores Are Bad, So How Do I Avoid Dropping My Score?

You get it: higher score good, lower score bad. So simple a caveman can understand it. Do the things to make your score go up, you’re fine, right? That’s a good start, but not the whole story. There’s no way to truly “improve credit score instantly.” And, as we said last time, before making drastic changes to how you manage your finances you should probably talk to a professional.

The fastest way to improve your credit score is to ritually follow these steps and reminders, in conjunction with talking to a professional. Each individual has a different situation and set of circumstances, and the plan of action might be heeded differently for each person:

Being late with payments can drop your score. This one is obvious, but it is important enough to bear repeating.

Using more of your available credit can lower your score. The less available unused credit you have the worse the effect on your credit score.

Closing existing or revolving accounts will usually leave you with less unused credit and this can hurt your FICO score.

When you seek new credit accounts, your credit will be checked, which can hurt your credit score. Remember this if you are seeking additional credit in order to have more unused credit available. (this is one example of why talking to a professional is important)

Debts owed because of a court judgment, tax lien, etc., carry an additional negative penalty, especially if they are recent.

Having one or more newly opened consumer finance credit accounts could hurt your score. If you don’t know what this is, you probably don’t have one.

Filing for bankruptcy. This one is pretty complicated, talk to a bankruptcy attorney for more information.

Stephanie Tatar is the founding attorney of both Consumer Lawyer Network and The Tatar Law Firm. Ms. Tatar has been a consumer advocate since graduating cum laude from DePaul University, College of Law. During her career, she has fought debt collectors, credit reporting agencies, creditors, manufacturers and car dealers, achieving success at every level. Ms. Tatar is a member of the National Association of Consumer Advocates and the Los Angeles County Bar Association, and is admitted to practice in various federal and state courts, including California and Illinois.